Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County School Board, Specialized Program & Centers Committee Meeting, Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 1h 8m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1227129558?rel=0
BoardDocs (School Board): https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/loudoun/Board.nsf/Public

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-30. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:14] good evening everyone my name is lauren shurnoff and i am calling this specialized programs and centers committee meeting on tuesday september 15th uh 2026 to order and i we have a full house you cannot see us but it is a full house today so we are so thankful that you are here i am joined by my colleague mr pepper and our apologies in advance we have had a very long day many of us have been together um talking budget for almost eight hours today so we're a little um slap happy So we're going to do our best, though.

[00:00:45] We're going to have a good time, because it looks like there's some fun things happening in the room. So we are very excited to have you. And with that, we will start with public comment. We have one public commenter tonight. It is Mr. Paul Vickers. And you will have three minutes, Mr. Vickers, and start when you're ready. Thank you, Mr. Chernoff, and thank you, Mr. Pepper.

[00:01:07] So I am Paul Vickers. I'm the principal of Hillsborough Charter Academy. And I'm here to talk about perimeter fencing that you'll find on 60 out of 62 elementary schools here in Loudoun County. The two schools that don't have the perimeter fencing are our school, Hillsborough Charter Academy, and also Middleburg Community Charter School.

[00:01:29] And so the reason why I wanted to bring this to everyone's attention right now is that a couple days ago, I received a report that the safety and security team had partnered with Armored One to conduct a third-party security assessment for all schools.

[00:01:46] And our lack of a perimeter fencing was actually mentioned no fewer than six times in the report, as it's actually listed as both a weakness and a priority, something that needs to happen. In fact, it says, quote, Particular attention should be given to the roadway and traffic loop adjacent to the basketball courts and playground where vehicles have direct access to high occupancy student activity areas.

[00:02:16] If you know where Hillsborough Charter Academy is, we are on the first circle heading west on Route 9 as you come into Hillsborough. So we are actually a school that if you drive 10 minutes down the road, you literally can leave our state and be in either West Virginia or Maryland.

[00:02:35] And I think prioritizing student safety is obviously something that our school district does exceptionally well. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I've been working in the school system since 1991. All three of my children went to school here. My wife has been teaching and working in the school system for 37 years.

[00:02:53] And we just don't understand why our students, we have 144 students at our school, 300 on our wait list. And we just don't really understand why our children aren't seen in the same light as all the other children in the school system.

[00:03:10] If security and safety fencing, perimeter fencing is important at 60 elementary schools, I would submit to you that it's important at all elementary schools. And that's the reason why I'm here. And, you know, I love this school system, and I love what we are doing for children, but I think we're missing the mark on this one.

[00:03:30] Thank you. Thank you. All right. With that, we will move on to item number 3.01, which is approval of the draft minutes for the August 6, 2026 meeting. Are there any changes or edits? No. With that, I will move to approve the draft minutes for the August 6 meeting.

[00:03:50] Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye, that passes unanimously to zero with Ms. Donahue absent for the vote. All right, now we will move on to our first action, first and only action item, something I know a lot of us are very excited about, not to give away the ending here tonight.

[00:04:10] But 4.01 is the Family and Community Engagement, or otherwise known as FACE, resource hub. So I will turn it over to our presenters, Ms. Allen, and then you can introduce your team. Absolutely. So with me, and who will be presenting throughout the presentation with me, we have Renee Dawson, who is our Director of Family and Community Management, and then we have Sarah Boyes, who oversees outreach services for us as well.

[00:04:34] I'm going to channel my inner Renee Dawson since I wasn't here last time, and I'm going to say I'm so excited to present tonight about the FACE Hub. We are pleased to be back with you today to continue our conversation about the LCPS FACE Resource Hub. When we last shared this work, we introduced the vision for creating a more coordinated and accessible system of support for students and families across LCPS.

[00:04:57] Since then, we've gathered the additional information requested at our last meeting, which we'll share with you today. We've also continued to see examples across LCPS of where a resource hub could help address identified needs and strengthen the way we coordinate support. Today we'll provide a quick refresher on the what, why, and how of the resource hub, share the information you requested, and then talk briefly about what next steps may be possible as we continue to potentially move this work forward.

[00:05:24] Next slide, please. So as we shared in the last meeting, here is the what, why, and how of the FACE resource hub. I'll just give you a quick second to look at that. Next slide. And then these are our four goals we shared with you during the last presentation, and they continue to guide the development of the hub.

[00:05:50] Next slide. As we shared during the last meeting, here are some of the data points that helped us to inform our face resource hub planning. Next slide, please.

[00:06:09] In addition to looking at the data, we also listened to the staff who worked closely with students and families, including our family liaison, social workers, McKinney-Vento staff, and school counseling coordinators. And what we heard was remarkably consistent.

[00:06:25] Across roles in schools, many of the same needs surfaced. And that was food, clothing, hygiene items, school supplies, transportation, and connections to health-related resources. Next slide, please. And at our last meeting, you asked us to look more closely at how need and support vary across the division.

[00:06:44] The next few slides respond directly to that request. We looked at both economically disadvantaged enrollment and actual instances of support provided by our family liaisons. Looking at both gives us a fuller picture of what our schools and families are experiencing. Next slide this first view takes the percentage of economically disadvantaged students and translate Translates it into the actual number of students in each planning district that helps put the percentages into perspective it In planning districts with a lower percentage of economically disadvantaged students that percent percentage can still represent a significant number of students

[00:07:22] Which is really important next slide So this next view shows the average number of instances of supports provided each month by our family liaisons across the various planning districts what we see here is that support is occurring across the entire division these instances represented represent identified needs that our family liaisons are responding to through direct resources referrals and community partnerships next slide please so we wanted to bring your attention to one just to kind of give an example

[00:07:57] Dulles South provides a helpful example of why looking at both demographic and service data matters while the proportion of economically disadvantaged students is relatively low compared with other planning districts, family liaisons data shows a relatively high level of support being provided. So this really reinforces an important point.

[00:08:20] A lower economically disadvantaged percentage does not necessarily mean lower need. Next slide, please. So taken together, this data reinforces something important for our planning. Need does not look the same, but the need still exists in every part of Loudoun. And no single data point tells the whole story so as we continue developing the resource hub looking at both demographic indicators and demonstrated requests for support can help us really build a model that is responsive to needs across the entire

[00:08:55] division next slide please so at the last meeting staff recommended option one which is seen here and includes three regional specialists under this model each specialist would support approximately 33 to 34 schools providing regional coverage across the division next slide option 2 provides a model with two regional specialists with each supporting approximately 49 to 50 schools we included this option to show what a reduced staffing model would look like and the corresponding increase in school coverage for each specialist next

[00:09:33] slide also at the last meeting the board asked us to provide the numbers for a model with five regional specialists so we developed option 3 in response to that request. With five specialists, each would support approximately 20 schools, providing greater capacity for direct and consistent support to schools. This comparison puts the staff-recommended model of three specialists alongside the five-specialist model requested for consideration. The primary differences are capacity and cost. Moving from three to

[00:10:12] five specialists reduces the number of schools assigned to each specialist from approximately 34 schools to about 20 providing greater capacity for direct school support but it also shows the additional staffing costs associated with moving from three to five specialists so you can see both the increased level of support and the additional investment that would be required next slide and this timeline remains our proposed phased approach for moving the resource hub from planning to implementation which we are so excited about and we're happy to answer any questions from

[00:10:50] the committee at this time thank you so much mr pepper do you have any follow-up questions yes and i apologize um because i actually missed our august meeting i was traveling and i was very excited to see this on the agenda i'm excited that you guys came back we're so happy to be here yeah and as we look really i guess my question is how do you envision the breakdown of these uh Staffing specialists, right? I know we're talking about number of schools

[00:11:22] But is it specific geographics? Because as we look as we go kind of back up to the slides with the student population by planning district and the numbers of support There are obviously even if you split the schools equally, it might not be splitting the need equally So what's the thought as to how these individuals be distributed across the county?

[00:11:41] I think after the last conversation and in our conversations, we've discussed that the staffing would be needs-based We do know that it is across the division, and so we would have to be very thoughtful and intentional about how we would align our specialists for certain areas.

[00:12:02] We also have to think about travel if they're going to be going to schools and what that looks like. So I think it's a combination of both of those, needs-based, but then also geographically how is it going to be for our specialists to get to those schools to provide some support. Yeah, I think just to add to that, it may not necessarily, you know, If we're looking for example at the the three specialist model where it may be an average of 34 schools per specialist If that specialist has some schools that have a really significant need Maybe they might have fewer maybe they have 30 schools or maybe they have a few Less schools and other specialists do so the maybe it's not necessarily the schools that is exactly the same

[00:12:41] But their capacity and supporting and the the need that we're seeing in each of those schools would be and then i guess my next question and maybe this was answered last time and my apologies for not diving in but what do you see the day-to-day as because i think the crux of the decision at this point is how many specialists right whether we go option one two or three what do you envision the day-to-day of a specialist being like knowing that these are individuals who are working with some of our neediest students in some of our most difficult circumstances and there's often an

[00:13:19] emotional as well as physical toll on us what do you envision the day-to-day of a specialist to be like Renee do you want to talk real quick just about the hub model on its face sort of what it looks like to just so that you have you know baseline there and then go into what the specialist specifically would do so one of the things that we did kind of the historical part of this is we looked at some examples of hubs in other areas and we landed on what is called like a closed loop model so essentially our schools that do this kind of now we have our liaisons that are

[00:13:56] outsourcing and trying to find the materials and the supplies that they need so what they would do is instead of them going out and trying to find this the school would submit i need 30 backpacks i need 10 hygiene kits i need this and what the hub does is we receive those requests and then we pack them up and we take them back to the school so that it goes directly to the family liaisons to be able to distribute to the families so i think part of the day really is about assembling it's assembling everything together making sure we have all the supplies we need i think there's going to be a lot of packing for that i think there's going to be a lot of looking at needs

[00:14:35] assessments across the schools that they just support um i think there's going to be a lot of inventory. So what happens is they ship those things out to the schools. We have a closed loop system. So we follow up to say, did you receive this? Has it been helpful in each one of the kits or any of the things that we send to our schools? We're also providing a resource list. So we have a resource information card in multiple languages that shares with our families. Here are some other ways or important contacts that you might have so i think part of it is that i think um our three

[00:15:10] year plan obviously is going to be to have uh classes there for our families to be able to come to um i think we've kind of forecasted some of the other things packing events that we want to have um and things like that i don't know if there's anything else you all want to add so i do think a lot of it is assembly packing distribution going out there could be instances where we have an emergency and it's not going to fall into the transportation loop, now we've got to have our specialists that are going out to the schools and delivering on that day. So I would say my worry

[00:15:43] realistically is that if we go with a model that's two or three and we decide that we need more in the future, either that funding piece, coming out of the funding meeting earlier today, either that funding piece isn't going to be there or it's hard to find someone to fill that role. I would almost lean towards being a little more aggressive and then cutting back if we see that this position is you know able to take on more than we have assumed at the beginning I get an argument from us yeah I mean I was the one who asked for

[00:16:22] more staffing projections and we did have some difficult conversations this morning about the budget and we are facing some challenges that we haven't faced in the past and I am too struggling if specialist is the right fit obviously we need someone year-round. The one thing I'm kind of looked at also was looking at what are what we pay our fueled workers that are going to be housed there and that's a big that's a pretty decent discrepancy between a specialist role and so I just want to make sure we're kind of keeping all things in balance and I want as many people as possible. I think that that's I've supported many schools in a year it's very difficult to do. So I am also more inclined

[00:17:01] though to have the conversation on i don't want to set us up to fail i said that last time i think if you stretch people too thin from the onset that it becomes a frustration rather than really a blessing and i want this to be what's intended to be which is a blessing to our community and to our schools and to our family liaisons who desperately need this support and to lef i mean this is going be massive for them so I am inclined as I make I'm gonna make a motion but as I make my motion I just well I'll make the motion and then I will discuss it so

[00:17:37] that's the protocol all right so I'm gonna actually move if we're done discussing to send the face resource hub proposal forward to the full board for approval with the caveat that option three is our preference so that i'm gonna second that okay and is there any discussion okay so i'll speak to it i do also want i don't want to make us so lockstep that when we get to the budget process if we can't have wiggle room but i do agree with my colleague that more people is important um so i'm gonna do a little bit more research and

[00:18:17] we'll continue to talk about what maybe that level of position could be and make sure we cover all of our basis and if it's specialist it's specialist and we'll figure it out but I do think that that is an important caveat and it is important to me that we do support this from the onset so I think five five like what did we just decide on I think five is is reasonable and then it does give you that flexibility based on need and very appreciative so with that all in favor of this going to the full board passes unanimously 2-0 with Miss Donahue absent for the vote thank you so much we appreciate you very much no

[00:18:56] problem alrighty we will move right along we are now on our information items tonight we have item 5.01 which is an update on career and technical education and so I will let the swap out occur of our present presenters so we have a team joining thank you mr. Slevin I will filibuster but does anybody want to come to the teacher leave does our teacher want to join us do we want to start

[00:19:33] with an invitation to a dirty soda so he wants to introduce what's going on over there does the teacher I'll turn it over to dr. Grubbs hello this is my first time doing this well I'm so glad to have you so we're gonna be presenting on club soda which is one of our work-based learning school-based enterprises that is new um for independence high school and um lcps in general um but if you want um jen and

[00:20:13] kirsten are bringing over one of our this is our newest flavor which is a um green apple a caramel green apple dirty soda so we have diet and regular so i'll be speaking more in a little bit but just wanted you to have that to get to experience it thank you so much i saw this in the presentation and i told my daughter i was like they're making dirty sodas at independence

[00:20:50] because we like got obsessed with them this summer and she was like are you gonna go go don't go without me so well i could still come visit but this is amazing all right mr slevin you want to dr grubbs you want to kick us off thank you uh good afternoon um i am michael grubbs i am the director for career technical and adult education uh before we begin we're going to have some introductions we'll work our way down this way and then we'll jump over to dr grisita that's okay Lexi, if you want to go ahead.

[00:21:17] Like I said, my name is Lexi Swinomer, and I am a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at Independence High School. Good afternoon. I'm Jennifer Alpers, a CTE supervisor. Hi, I'm Christina Lee, the Workplace Learning Coordinator for our division.

[00:21:36] Good afternoon. Nick Grazita, CTE supervisor. Thank you. We are here tonight because we are here to talk about two big initiatives that we've been focusing on as a division, Which is helping students find their imagined future and then goal 1.2 which is expanding opportunities for multiple accessible pathways to success through diverse programming within that bucket developing accessible specialized programming for example academies allowed in and career and technical programs and Then revising the programs of studies to expand electives and new course offerings based on student needs and

[00:22:15] Workforce demands so the outcomes for this presentation is to illustrate how 3e is measured and strategies that we are using to improve those outcomes and then provide some updates on CTE expansion plan before we begin we want to talk a little about 3e we think that is a great way to open up this conversation and talk about strategies for how we are looking to increase student outcomes for 3e although we're not going to do a deep dive tonight we do want to walk through the four different point values for 3e we do have a worksheet in front of you we encourage you to follow along we're going to give a few different examples as we walk through 3e examples

[00:22:53] The 0.5 value is CTE completer who has completed a high-quality work-based learning experience. So that's our 0.5 value for employment for 3E. The 0.75 is CTE completer who has earned a state-approved industry-recognized credential as defined by the school board.

[00:23:12] One point is CTE completer who has earned a state-approved industry-recognized credential in a high-demand field or a CTE completer who earned a state-approved industry-recognized credential and completed a high-quality work-based learning experience as defined by the board.

[00:23:31] And then to earn 1.25 points, it is a CTE completer who earned a state-approved credential in a high-demand field and completed a high-quality work-based learning experience. While we don't expect you to memorize that, what we are going to illustrate tonight is how complicated 3E is and how many variables there are into determining student success at the high school level for our students and our CT programs.

[00:23:59] So we're going to walk through a few different examples on the next few slides. Next slide, please. All right, so this is our first two student scenarios. When you are looking at your worksheet, your game piece here, we are focused on number two.

[00:24:17] This is a student example. All of the point summaries and definitions are included there. for you to follow along with. But in scenario number one, we have a high school senior who has taken Teachers for Tomorrow Level 1 and Teachers for Tomorrow Level 2. During this sequence, they also took and passed the Parapro, which is an industry-recognized credential that is high demand, and they completed a 90-hour internship. So I'll let that sink in while you are looking at

[00:24:53] your points, at your options, and thinking about what the student might have earned here. While you're thinking about that, I'll walk through the second scenario where the student has taken nutrition and wellness, and then they took the next course in this sequence, which was food science and dietetics. They took the food science fundamental exam, fundamentals, excuse me, which is an industry-recognized credential, but it is not high demand, and they did not complete a high

[00:25:26] quality work-based learning experience give you just a second to think through that before nick shares two additional examples with you it's a formative assessment it's not summative just think through we'll go through the answers after okay i was a reading teacher not a math teacher sounds like mr pepper has a guess mr pepper would you like to take a stab at it sure i'm going to say that um student one teachers for tomorrow he's from r2 got the certification

[00:26:05] high demand did the interview that's a 1.25 they hit everything you're correct that's good a dirty soda there you go and i would say that student two did do the coursework so they're a cte completer they have the state approved credential but they don't have anything else that makes it a 0.75 that is correct you're two for two i can still use rubrics there you go kudos move on to nick rosita next slide so let's see if we can go four for four okay so the next two students we have

[00:26:41] the first student take technology of robotic design typically an eighth grade student would take that and then they would follow that up with manufacturing systems one probably about their junior year the certification is workplace readiness skills which is not a high demand credential and they did not engage in a high quality work-based learning experience so we'll let you look at that and tally up what you think that is you can't collaborate oh maybe you can

[00:27:17] sorry yes you can that is correct last scenario we have a student take computer information systems typically a freshman would take this and then they would follow that up their sophomore year with advanced computer information systems they take a couple of the microsoft office credentials word excel etc that is a high demand credential however they do not engage in a high quality

[00:27:50] work-based learning experience what would you score that that's correct is the or congratulations Mr. Pepper. Nice job. Thank you very much for engaging in that exercise. I'm going to turn it back over to Dr. Grubbs. Thank you. As you can see, we are in our second year of 3E data, and there are a lot of variables. We're going to unpack some of those variables on the next few slides. We're also going to share some examples of strategies that we are deploying to make sure that we are providing as many opportunities for students to get 3E employment points as possible.

[00:28:30] On the next slide, I do want to pull out one quick data point. We've seen significant growth in our industry recognized credentials so from 24 25 to 25 26 we have an increase of number of students that have pat that have taken an industry recognized credential we've gone from 10 000 to 12 000 just from 24 25 to 25 26. our attempts have even increased and our percentage has even increased by one percentage however when we start to look at our 3e data we could actually see our employment data slowly drop even though that our certification attempts and number of students have increased and some of the reason is because of this new variable

[00:29:09] the high demand and so the work that our team is doing which is under opportunities and risks is is just recognizing that video we has shifted to high demand credentials over the last one to two years we cannot simply convert our curriculum overnight to some of those new high demand credentials in some areas it is easier and so changes to certification requires professional learning software approval curriculum updates and we're also working with our schools on even expectations on certifications there has been a choose to test sometimes approach where we are really adopting more all students will test for certifications moving forward so that we have high expectations and

[00:29:47] high accountability next slide so our work-based learning team is made up of myself and our five work-based learning resource teachers their role is to help teachers and schools develop high-quality work-based learning experiences for our students support the coordination and documentation of work-based learning experiences help schools understand and implement the six high-quality work-based learning experiences listed here on the screen support and track student participation and work-based learning data help strengthen the connection

[00:30:27] between work-based learning and the 3e especially focusing on employment and work across schools to create a more consistent district-wide work-based learning system while we primarily focus on CTE we hope that we can expand high quality work-based learning student opportunities for all students I'm one of the challenges that our work-based learning team had to really focus on for 2526 was navigating the changes from the Virginia Department of Education they

[00:31:00] change reporting multiple times in the spring but our team we we kicked into action and we helped supported our teachers that needed assistance with reporting and it required our art work-based learning team to provide additional support and for documentation and reporting and our team did a really good job of managing those changes having conversations with the Virginia Department of Education talking to our counter partners and others school divisions in our region to help navigate those changes I'm so some of the things

[00:31:38] that we're doing to help support 26 27 we're working with our DVI department to navigate those things ahead of time having those conversations with video we ahead of time to see if their reporting model has changed and also just having those conversations to make sure that we're tracking work-based learning experiences consistently consistently and also high-quality experiences are happening this is why our work-based learning research teacher role is

[00:32:12] especially important they are helping our schools understand what qualifies as high-quality work-based learning supporting documentation connecting teachers with employers and helping us build a more consistent division-wide approach so ultimately their work will allow us to move beyond simply counting experiences but being able to understand how work-based learning contributes to our 3e outcomes especially preparing our students for employment and transition

[00:32:45] beyond high school wanted to provide some data for you all of the impact of high-quality work based learning that our team did an amazing job to help support so internship is a really huge high-quality work based learning experience for our school division you'll see that three hundred and seven students completed we had six hundred and five total placements school-based enterprise is our second one as well that's high in numbers and that we had

[00:33:22] 135 completed and 335 total placements and then clinical experiences 13 completed and 85 85 total placements were done so these numbers just represent these high quality work based learning experiences that are the top ones and we have a full spreadsheet with that information of all of our high quality work based learning experiences that our students have participated in um you'll see some numbers change just because of course we were navigating things with Virginia Department of Education and then also this was a new process we implemented a

[00:34:01] new process for our teachers and our platform that we use school links and so our teachers understanding how to use it our students understanding how to use it as well also I want to highlight our work-based learning continuum we had nine workplace tours 96 guest speakers and 688 job shadowing placements so please note the our next steps is to continue to strengthen the continuum and making the connection between these experiences and 3e outcomes I want to pass it over to Lexi one of our amazing CTE teachers I'm an Independence High

[00:34:40] school she's going to talk through her school-based enterprise opportunity that she has at Indy and the club soda that you all are dirty so that you all are enjoying right now thank you so I'm excited to share the story of Indy Club soda with you this is a program that began as a simple idea in our family and consumer sciences classroom so we've actually been doing this for five years and we have grown it with the work-based learning team over the last year to turn it into a school-based enterprise.

[00:35:17] So originally this was a one-day staff appreciation event. Students in our culinary pathway spent four weeks preparing, submitting simulated job applications, refining recipes, and learning batch production. We realized that the potential of this project extended far beyond a single afternoon.

[00:35:35] Last spring, I worked hand-in-hand with our WBL resource teacher, Kirsten O'Grady, and we set out to transform Club Soda into an official VDOE-compliant, high-quality work-based learning experience. Kirsten's partnership was invaluable. She helped align our vision with the LCPS and VDOE 3E mission and advocated for the CTAE support that made our expansion possible.

[00:35:59] Thanks to CTAE's investment in our mobile cart and setup, we brought Club Soda out of the isolated classroom setting and directly into the school community. As you can see on the screen, our mobile setup allows students to operationalize a real pop-up business at football games, open houses, and community events.

[00:36:24] What makes Club Soda truly transformational is that we aren't training quick service restaurant workers. We are cultivating future corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and community leaders. While all students in nutrition and wellness and intro to culinary arts participate in operating the enterprise, the heart of our leadership structure is our six student interns.

[00:36:45] These six students serve as our executive board, holding dedicated roles. They manage real inventory thresholds, file purchase orders, design promotional campaigns, and oversee health and safety compliance. Most importantly, they analyze actual sales data to adjust our menu offerings based on customer preferences.

[00:37:05] They manage and interpret financial data, locating hidden costs, and finding opportunities to improve profit ratios. When a syrup flavor sells out during a Friday night tailgate rush, our students don't look to me to solve it. They analyze their supply, communicate with their team, and adjust operations on the fly.

[00:37:23] By giving our students real responsibility and authentic ownership, we are equipping them with the financial literacy, business acumen, and confidence to succeed in any high-demand career path they choose. Thank you for your continued support of CTE, FACTS, and Work-Based Learning.

[00:37:41] Thank you, Lexi. Before we shift into updates on our CTE expansion plan, I just want to capture the great work that's happening around our industry-recognized credentials and our Work-Based Learning team. When I think about 3E employment, and hopefully you observed in your little calculations and some of the things we've shared to date, there are a lot of variables that go into what could affect 3E employment.

[00:38:03] Enrollment, making sure that we are recruiting and attracting students into the experiences like Lexi shared. That's some of the work that we're doing. Making sure our students are finishers, which have taken two CTE courses, not just the first course in the pathway. Making sure that they are graduating with all those graduation requirements and their completers.

[00:38:19] Making sure they're getting their certifications and those certifications are high demand credentials Making sure they're getting high quality work based learning experience But as Christina shared also the reporting components making sure that we're actually reporting and documenting those experiences So as we continue unpack 3e and the progress we've made There are a lot of variables that we need to continue unpack to understand what is happening at individual schools and those those differences can be Very significantly different from one school to another. So we're gonna go ahead and transition on I think Jen's going to share some updates around our expansion plan as part of next parts of our present so one of my favorite things to talk about right now with our

[00:38:58] expansion plan in CTE is our school stores and I know that this is something that you value as well sure enough we enjoyed your company at the grand opening at Loudoun County's captain's corner recently so last year we started with three schools we started with John champ and their armory Dominion and the Titans Corner, and then our Captain's Corner at Loudoun County High School. And when we talk about the expansion plan, it's not just the new things. It really is elevating what already exists in our school district. And when we talk about school stores, they are a very natural home for a school-based

[00:39:37] enterprise, which as you saw in previous slides, is one of the highest opportunities for students to gain high-quality work-based learning experiences. And so our school stores being these natural places for school-based enterprises. They're also more than that. They are really, truly authentic learning places for our students where they learn business operations. They learn work-based learning hands-on. These are student leadership opportunities. They are opportunities for industry and business partner mentorships. And so as we continue to talk about school stores and the

[00:40:10] expansion plan, this school year we are talking about three additional schools. If you could go back just a second for me please thank you we are working with Briarwoods High School Potomac Falls High School and the North Star School on renovations of their their current spaces and we are also working with Parkview High School as they plan the opening of their new building for next year and then just sort of a feel-good piece as we talk about our business and industry partnership as you've seen some of the work between independence and work based learning

[00:40:47] resource teachers, when we talk about school-based enterprises, we must have that business industry partner as a mentor when we are talking about reporting to the state, when we're talking about counting hours. And this is an opportunity here that SR Coffee stepped into with John Champ and their Roman Roasters. And so this just captures what that looks like in real life with Ms. Brown, who is the marketing teacher, and those students in their school store. Thanks, Jen. We're very

[00:41:21] excited with this next bit of news uh through dr grubb's experience in leadership uh with roti programs we are excited to announce that the u.s army has officially approved lcps to establish an army jrotc program at stonebridge high school uh this will be the first new jrotc program in lcps since the njrotc program was established in 2009 at loudon county high school as you all know CTE staff are working with Stonebridge leadership.

[00:41:52] We've already had several meetings with Dr. Flynn and with Katie Clark at the helm with special programs. And we're prepared to continue working with the Army to implement this program. We're planning to launch this program next school year, 27-28.

[00:42:11] So I'm going to turn it back over to Dr. Grubbs. Next slide. One last update on our CTE expansion plan. This is one of the newer initiatives. the Adult Detention Center GED program just a week and a half two weeks ago we received an MOA that was signed by the Sheriff's Office in collaboration with the Loudoun County Public Schools we will be starting a GED program with the Adult Detention Center inmates will participate in a two-day two and a half hour per session experience adjustments based on needs and the exam will be

[00:42:44] given at the Adult Detention Center with the goal of improving our attainment of GED program in partnership with the sheriff's office and the adult detention center so that is a program that we expect to start in November and that has been months in the making and we are really excited to Get that off the ground and so with that we will open it up for questions and feedback. Next slide, please. Thank you Thank you all so much It's evident that a lot of the exciting work that we've talked about over the last six months is actually up and running now So that is very exciting. Mr. Pepper. Wow. So this is super cool. I don't even know where to start

[00:43:22] I guess I'm going to start with a question, and maybe it's for Dr. Grubbs, but it could be for anyone up there. It's about the worksheet. You're such a teacher. What do the points have anything to do with it? So I get a 1.25.

[00:43:39] How does that differ than if I got a 0.75? That's a great question. So employment is one-third of the 3E calculation. So we just recently received those scores, and principals are starting to unpack those scores. And those questions are starting to come in. and we're starting to unpack from a student perspective we're not chasing data points I think that's the real message we want to deliver here we're really we're really unpacking what's happening in the data how are those calculations adding up for every single student you either get 0.5 or or 1.25 or zero points and so that is affecting your SPSF framework your credibility

[00:44:17] and accountability outcomes and so for right now we're just looking at how those data points are adding up and what students are included in that data and what students are not included in that data and how does that make sure that we as a division are thinking about making our students as prepared for whatever comes next as possible I don't know if that fully answers your question but it's nice to know there's like a numeric component okay secondly love this soda I just want to say so one of the fun facts I don't know if y'all know about me is I'm actually a certified facts teacher in the Commonwealth of Virginia yeah it's another it's another secret surprise they have up my sleeve we're not gonna

[00:44:56] talk about why I got it or how I did on the exam, but let's say I was really good at the cooking portion. But I love, one of the things I want to say is I love that it's so much more what you've done than just teaching the students how to, you know, cook, right? It's, it's, and, you know, we always think of, of kind of the culinary component as, well, they're learning how to measure, they're learning how to double a recipe, they're learning how to be safe, they're learning knife, they're learning all these things. But when you expand it to the whole aspect of actually running and designing a business and troubleshooting and problem solving, it's really very impressive

[00:45:32] what you've done here. So I thank you for that. And this is cool. And hopefully if you guys are at an indie football game, I'll come over and check out and maybe, or I don't know what this is. It's pretty good. It looks like Ecto Cooler for those of you who can't see it, but it's still pretty good. So I like that. I really, I think we talk about kind of what resources or milestones would be helpful for us I really would love to see how we're changing to more of those kind of like high quality work based learning from what we have now I know that the video we change it on you and we're trying to update our system so just kind of more progress on what we have on that as well as I know we have

[00:46:07] this one slide where it's like X completed Y placements how the placements compared to the completion ratio and what might be a barrier to our students completing those outcomes and so with that I'll turn it over to Michelle thank

[00:46:23] Thank you, Mr. Pepper. I don't really have any questions. I just want to say that as we're being mindful of going forward with this expansion, like we talked a lot about sustainability this morning, and so it is on my mind as part of this committee and as part of this work that we are making sure that I know in some senses we're building the plane as we fly it, but I want to really make sure that we are flying the plane because there's a lot going on.

[00:46:47] And, you know, I'm really excited to see the approval for the Army JROTC, and I just want to make sure that the other components are also being supported as we're going through all that. So I am thrilled. I will tell you the one thing that you can tell about kids being engaged in a project is that they will not stop talking about it.

[00:47:06] Usually if you ask a kid, like, what are you learning? They're like, something, or do you like it? Yeah. But when you walk into these situations, I mean, when we were at Coach's Corner store opening, I mean, we literally could not get them away from us. Like, they were just telling us every facet, and they were so excited.

[00:47:21] And, I mean, I bought more gear than I probably need. But it was so exciting to see them so engaged. And I'm sure it's the same way for your soda friends. And, you know, I know there's other ideas cooking over there, literally. So somebody wants a food truck.

[00:47:41] But I am very excited about the direction that this is going because this is the way our world is going. and we're equipping our learners. And so it's very exciting. I commend the team for all the work in terms of figuring all of this out and how this helps put LCPS in the right spot.

[00:47:56] But even more so, it's not so much about us and getting accredited. It's about making sure our kids have what they need to be successful in their future. And I think you've always had that at the forefront, and so that's evident here. So I thank you for all of your work. Anything else?

[00:48:12] All right. Look forward to seeing you out and about, and look forward to another update down the road. Mr. Slevin, we will move on. I have a hard stop at probably 635. I have to get to a parent theater meeting.

[00:48:29] But let's move forward with AVID, and then, yeah, we're good? Okay. All right, so we are transitioning now to our next item, which is the new crew is coming up.

[00:48:47] 5.02, advanced via individual determination proposal, which is a program AVID. And so I believe, Mr. Slevin, are you going to kick us off or? I believe Mr. Bonner.

[00:49:03] Okay. Welcome, Mr. Bonner. He's the principal at Tuscarora High School. We've hung out a time or two, so it's good to have you here. Thank you for having us tonight, Mr. Pepper and Ms. Chernoff. I will turn it over to my colleague, Mr. Blair, who's our AVID coordinator, to take us through the presentation tonight.

[00:49:19] And I will try to be as short-winded as possible. I know it's been a long day for you guys. I also had a long, full day of teaching English and AVID and all kinds of fun things today. So good evening, and I'm very proud to present to you guys about Advancement Via Individual Determination, known as AVID.

[00:49:38] This is a program that has been a part of Loudoun County for quite some time. It has been a part, and it has not. So we're going to take a look at how this can be restructured to really begin to make a difference to help our students prepare for the opportunities that we provide and how to support them in those.

[00:49:58] So we're very excited to present this information to you guys. We can go to the next slide. So a quick overview, next, will be that AVID's mission is to close the opportunity gap. This used to be the achievement gap, but we've changed this to the opportunity gap by preparing all students for college and career readiness in a global society.

[00:50:19] So AVID is designed to equip not only the specific students who would be attending the program or being a part of the program, but it also impacts an entire school and a school community to become more college career ready through a set of skills that we embrace and that we teach them through two different lenses.

[00:50:44] So AVID will operate through two primary components, the first component being the AVID elective course, which is what we refer to as AVID students at the school. This student, we target the students in the academic middle, and these are typically first-generation students, low-income or single-parent families, and students that fall in the 2.5 to 3.0 GPA range who demonstrate potential and determination to take advanced coursework.

[00:51:13] In other words, this is the students that are doing a very, very good job in our academic-level courses, and for whatever reason, they do not push up into those honors classes, whether it's not the push from home or it's not a teacher conversation that takes place like, why are you sitting in this class?

[00:51:32] Why are you not taking in honors or an AP course? so it's the students that kind of get stuck in that middle middle realm where we have lots of services for the students at the top lots of support for the students at the lower end and this is the student that just kind of sits quietly and probably like most of us sitting here today I know myself included with that so what AVID does through the elective course is we spend time explicitly teaching students organizational skills time management skills critical reading and writing strategies to really help these students

[00:52:11] with not only placing them in more rigorous coursework because we know that they are determined and capable of doing so but it's also helping them to be ready for that challenge once they get there so that they're not just doing it and jumping into the deep end by themselves AVID school-wide is the other element so we have the AVID students who would be taking the AVID elective course and then we have avid school-wide which is how avid can benefit an entire school community and we hope eventually an entire district this is through a

[00:52:45] separate lens where we have an avid site team that is made up of a number of school leaders including administration counseling teachers throughout the school department chairs and things of that nature as well as school counselors And what these members do is we make sure that we are providing high-quality professional learning through AVID, specifically in the instructional strategies of WICOR, which is writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading, which are the skills needed for college and career success.

[00:53:23] The school site team also makes sure that all of the goals of AVID align well with the school improvement plans. we want to make sure that we are very very aligned with all it's not making sure that we are aligned it's taking a look at where alignment can be improved with our strategic plan as a district and then also at the school level next slide please go ahead this is avids college and career framework this is it

[00:53:59] highlights the core values goals and actions for both what students need in the top of the triangle and what educators must do and as you see it is surrounded by relational capacity so that is one of the most important elements the kind of the glue that sticks everything together this looks like a hot mess but I had in my Google slide presentation because I'm a teacher it was slowly fading in every like separately so yeah right to save a

[00:54:34] little bit of time so the top priority for both Loudoun County Public Schools and AVID is that relational capacity and holistic support it starts with providing the students with meaningful relationships with teachers and mentors that's really at the core of everything that is done equitable access is a very important part because we AVID will fight for the students that either don't fight for themselves out of a lack of confidence or resources maybe they don't have the family pushing them so what this does is it not only it takes a look

[00:55:11] at your school-wide data and we really focus on making sure that all students in a school have equitable access to courses of rigor to improve de and at an ap opportunities for students that may otherwise think that they don't have that opportunity to do so that comes hand in hand with rigor which is what most students fear taking those classes is not being able to be successful avid provides professional learning for the teachers as well as targeted support for the avid students that provides everybody in the school with a different

[00:55:48] set of strategies and support through wicker strategies for the teachers as a common language that's spoken but also through teaching students how to keep up with a student agenda how to organize their digital materials which I think we all need help with and so this year at Tuscarora high school we we have we have had AVID since our second year open at Tuscarora high school with with great success it's a little bit of a history behind AVID is it has been a part of

[00:56:21] Loudoun County since 2008 and it has been initiated it has been implemented variety of different schools throughout time and it has waned and it has come and gone in different areas but it has stayed steady at Tuscarora High School is very much a part of our our culture as a school and we we hope that we can replicate the same success that we've had throughout the district because these kids are out there it's not just that the number of kids that we have there at Tuscarora High School we know that this can make a much larger impact and it's

[00:56:57] done through these frameworks that specifically align with all of LCPS's goals. Okay, thank you. Here is a national snapshot. I won't read that to you. I could talk about this for hours, but I understand. So as you can see, it's implemented across the country and really across the globe as far as Virgin Islands, and it's in Australia. This is also Department of Defense utilizes AVID.

[00:57:29] if you go to the next one please more importantly here in Virginia you can see on this map that Loudoun County is present and it is because of the Tuscarora High School it's the only site that currently has Abbott but you also see other areas including one second Fairfax County has a thriving Abbott program through middle elementary and high schools Abelmark County Alexandria City Virginia Beach they've long utilized Abbott as a

[00:57:59] core driver of student success okay go ahead you can act the goal and the objectives are very similar just to empower all students to achieve college and career success by providing them with that equitable access to rigorous academic framework that fosters that student agency cultivates essential academic skills and ensures that there are the students are aware of all of the different pathways for their success to speak a little bit on that if we go to

[00:58:34] the next slide. I've invited Mr. Bonner. These are the AVID program objectives. They are very aligned. The ones listed there in red, we just spoke and heard about the 3E framework and how that is really becoming a challenge, not a challenge, but kind of a question of what can we do to really impact those metrics for a school. So Mr. Bonner is going to speak briefly how we're doing that at Tuscarora High School and how AVID can help to impact. The AVID program objectives align really well with the SPSF. And as Dr. Grubbs and his team shared earlier in the presentation,

[00:59:12] we are looking for every way possible to provide students opportunities to score as many points as they can in the three E's. So we won't, you know, go through all of the objectives, but we did want to draw your attention to the three in red. Objective 1.1, increasing enrollment and success in rigorous coursework. That is going to align really nicely with the enrollment category for our students, which will allow them to get into three or more college-ready courses or college-ready scores on the AP exams or potentially three or more DE credits with a B or higher grade. Objective 3.1 and 3.2, which are enhancing students' knowledge of post-secondary options and equipping

[00:59:50] students with professional soft skills. Those would be great for the employment category as students are going to learn about and be encouraged to join elective courses. So that's that AVID elective course that mentor that avid teacher can say hey you're really interested in aerospace you know we have an aerospace one and two class here that is a high demand field that we can push you into and something you could be successful at along with the enlistment category of students take the ASVAB they

[01:00:15] score on the ASVAB and report that to the school thank you mr. Bonner oh I'm a I'm a classroom teacher I can push the gas okay yes if we go ahead into so this is what if we go to the next slide for me please one more avid since avid already has four sections offered one at each grade level one at 9th grade 10th

[01:00:54] 11th and 12th we really wouldn't need a planning year to get this off and going because it's already going and it's already successful at Tuscarora High School so it'd be filling to capacity and finding our students there at Tuscarora High School then we would start to expand their Tuscarora High School by adding sections at grade level so you would have to ninth grade sections ten to tenth grade sections and that would be phased up eventually this would add if you can go to the next we would choose a feeder of Tuscarora to start to implement at the it would be smarts mill middle school who previously did

[01:01:31] have AVID and it really helped with recruitment and it really helped that extra year especially when it came to math in the high school as well as you know later on chemistry and those types of courses so this is kind of a phased expansion with 25 students per section this is what it would look could look like if we were to expand and by year five we would introduce a second high school into AVID as well as their feeder we can go to the next one okay so the the budget breakdown is it's very similar year to year the biggest

[01:02:09] differences in the FTEs because the you do have a teacher that becomes certified through the AVID program through their system to teach the AVID elective course it has its own standards it has its own objectives it has training opportunities and professional learning so the one of the challenges that has faced Loudoun County Public Schools when it comes to AVID is up until this year we were not provided any FTE so we would have to kind of beg borrow steal from other departments I'm an English teacher on paper we used to have to just kind of take my section absorb it somewhere else so that we could have at

[01:02:49] it and with the FTE that that will solidify the opportunity to be able to have staff that are teaching the avid course instead of having to constantly figure out those those numbers we have a district oversight is necessary with the avid district coordinator I have it calls it the district director we have also the staffing numbers and operational supports mostly through college visits through transportation and yes since we're running out of time

[01:03:27] sorry since we're running out of time I would like to open it up for any questions this time my apologies for having to leave because i also could talk about this all day um mr bonner has been gracious to kind of walk us through some of the systems that exist at tuscarora and honestly we were at smarts mill and mr waldman didn't even know this i don't think he even knew this was on the radar but he just started talking about how it had waned but how he's bringing back some of those study skills and um showing us some of the the structures that they're implementing through advisory. And I think it's a really important conversation to be having at this time.

[01:04:07] I know Dr. Spence and I have had lots of conversations about the link between executive functioning skills and mental health and how that's sort of an untapped area of a lot of the reason these kids are so stressed out from the pressure is that they don't know how to keep themselves together. And it is a lot of pressure and we do have a lot of opportunities. And I think the thing that stood out to me the most that you said is that we have a lot for our kids that are, you know, gifted or doing really well or have a unique skill set or interest. And we have a ton of supports for our kids who are struggling and always we're going to make that a priority.

[01:04:42] But these, you know, I kind of called them when I was teaching bubble kids, you know, it's like these kids that just need that little bit of push, but they have it in there. And so I love that a program like this would provide the skills that they need. Obviously lots competing. And I think Mr. Slevin's going to speak to some next steps potentially with the budget and this program, but I am very grateful for the work that you do. I know you have a full slate with your English classes. We saw all your stuff on the mat. He showed us on the master schedule when we were there last week and we were like, whoa. Um, so I do appreciate, and I see your passion. Uh, and I think it's really, I think it's timely with all the technology and all the shifts that are

[01:05:22] happening. I think that, you know, the fact that it's coming back is no mistake. So go ahead, Mr. Bonner. Mr. Bonner. We both have excellent haircuts. And you're both John. And we're both John. I'm just going to keep this very brief because I know that we're under constraints.

[01:05:39] But having seen the success, not just what you're putting in, but I actually have colleagues who are avid teachers. They're friends. They're not colleagues. Friends who are avid teachers in Fairfax. And just what it does for those students and sets them on a path that sometimes they don't even think is possible is just so very valuable.

[01:05:57] And I'm so grateful that the work you're doing to start this really at Tuscarora, not that you haven't started it, but to like really flesh it out here at Tuscarora and expand this in LCPS, that kind of look at the timeline is very exciting. So I could talk a lot more on this, but just know that as someone who knows about AVID being in the education world, it's greatly admired and I really like it.

[01:06:18] Appreciate you being here. Sorry we rushed you. I hate that we did that to you. So I want to thank Mr. Blair. It takes a lot for a teacher to come to a meeting. Great job. His passion shone through. So this is one of multiple items being considered in the development of the superintendent's estimate of needs.

[01:06:36] And so as that progresses, if this is something that we were to go for, we would bring this item back as an action item to the Special Programs Committee. And we will make it first on the agenda and we'll allow for some additional time. More time to talk. I promise. All right. Thank you.

[01:06:52] It's all good. With that, we will move to new business. Is there any new business? All right. With that, we are adjourned. Have a great night, and we'll see you next time.

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